Geary Whiting's History

Geary Whiting’s passion for physical fitness and therapy developed long before he founded his Equine Massage Academy. He has honed his expertise in human performance over decades of working in fitness and physical therapy.

His pivotal encounter with Dr. Harry Sneider, a world-renowned coach, opened doors to working with U.S. Olympic athletes and other elite performers. Dr. Sneider and his wife, Sarah, believed in Geary’s potential, offering unwavering support to help him achieve his goals. Dr. Sneider praised Geary’s innovative approach, stating, “Every time I watch Geary work out, I learn something. He’s the most creative person with weights I’ve ever seen!”

This encouragement from a coach of such stature fueled Geary’s drive, propelling him to new heights and inspiring his transformative work in equine and human massage.

Thank you, Harry and Sarah.

In the early 1980s, while working with Harry Sneider, Geary studied with Carl Miller, 1976 Olympic weight lifting coach, in Santa Fe, NM and then met Mike Mentzer, “Mr. Heavy Duty” (shown with Harry Sneider in the picture), and trained him in Olympic Lifting. During their training sessions, Mike and Geary discussed many interesting and advanced concepts in strength and conditioning.

Geary worked with the US Olympic high jump team and with Deverik Lampley, US Olympic track and field athlete who ranked 4th in the United States in the 100/200 meters in the late 1980s.

Bob Wieland, a promising superstar in the sports world, had to take a little side trip away from a promising pro baseball career thanks to his Uncle Sam. With a trip around the world and a new wardrobe guaranteed by this well-known Uncle, Bob was quickly persuaded (drafted) and Vietnam bound in 1969. Three months in Vietnam was just enough time to allow Bob to step on an 82 mm mortar round (designed to disable tanks) and detonate it. Pronounced DOA, when his body bag moved they discovered Bob was still alive and now legless. Bob soon realized he had never seen a 2-foot 10-inch pitcher on the mound and felt that he would not be the first. So now, off to new adventures, actually, many adventures!

It was now time for Bob to go after a new challenge–his famous WALK ACROSS AMERICA–on his arms in three years, eight months, and six days. This was where Geary Whiting and Bob started their journey together. It was after Bob completed his journey walking across America that the two actively joined up and would eventually demonstrate the REAL EFFECTIVENESS of Shiatsu massage.

Bob had already accomplished the New York City and the LA City Marathons when Geary started doing Bob’s bodywork. They then went to NY and LA as a team the second year. Walking with Bob in NY and working with him as needed, which was frequent in the 26.2 miles, they finished better than 17 hours ahead of the previous year’s time. In LA, including repairing a right front deltoid injury and a 1-1/2 hour downtime for recovery, they crossed the finish line in a phenomenal 18 hours ahead of the previous year’s time. Because of speaking engagements and co-starring with Mario Van Peebles in the weekly TV series “Sonny Spoon,” there was no time to train for the LA City Marathon. If Bob had trained (he was in poor shape,) there is a very good chance Geary and Bob would have improved LA time by 24 hours.

Although this was not intended to be a test on the benefits of Shiatsu Massage, it, however, became one of the most unique studies of the benefits of Shiatsu massage and Geary Whiting’s skills as a World Class Trainer. As Bob said, “I have had many massages over the years, but none to compare to Geary’s. Geary stands in a league of his own.” You can Google Bob Wieland for his many accomplishments.

When the student is ready, the teacher will be there. Geary looks forward to sharing his world-class techniques with you.